Santiago de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Into town and the main square - Parque Cespedes and an orientation of the key buildings around the square.
If there's an archetype for romantic Cuban street life, Parque Céspedes is it. A throbbing kaleidoscope of walking, talking, hustling, flirting, guitar-strumming humanity, this most ebullient of city squares, with the bronze bust of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the man who kick-started Cuban independence in 1868, at its heart, is a sight to behold any time of day or night.
Old ladies gossip on shady park benches, a guy in a panama hat drags his scarred double bass over toward the Casa de la Trova, while sultry señoritas in skin-tight lycra flutter their eyelashes at the male tourists on the terrace of the Hotel Casa Granda. Parque Céspedes is also, aside from a jarring modernist bank on its west side, a treasure trove of colonial architecture.
The Casa de la Cultura Miguel Matamoros, on the square's eastern aspect, is the former San Carlos Club, a social center for wealthy santiagüeros until the Revolution. Next door British novelist Graham Greene once sought literary inspiration in the terrace-bar of the Hotel Casa Granda (1914). The neoclassical Ayuntamiento, on the northern side of the square, was erected in the 1950s using a design from 1783 and was once the site of Hernán Cortés' mayoral office. Fidel Castro appeared on the balcony of the present building on the night of January 2, 1959, trumpeting the Revolution's triumph.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/eastern-cuba/santiago-de-cuba/sights/parks-gardens/parque-cespedes#ixzz3x6a4khFI
By Parque Cespedes is Casa de Diego Velazquez the oldest house still standing in Cuba. Looks like something from Shakespeare's time.
The oldest house still standing in Cuba, this arresting early colonial abode dating from 1522 was the official residence of the island's first governor. Restored in the late 1960s, the Andalusian-style facade with fine, wooden lattice windows was inaugurated in 1970 as the Museo de Ambiente Histórico Cubano.
The ground floor was originally a trading house and gold foundry, while the upstairs was where Velázquez lived. Today, rooms display period furnishings and decoration from the 16th to 19th centuries. Check the two-way screens, where you could look out without being observed: a Turkish influence (Turkey had a big influence on European style at this time). Visitors are also taken through an adjacent 19th-century neoclassical house.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/eastern-cuba/santiago-de-cuba/sights/museums-galleries/casa-de-diego-velazquez#ixzz3x6Z5FxYX
Catedral de Nurstra Señora de la Asuncion anchors one end of the square.
Santiago's most important church is stunning both inside and out. There has been a cathedral on this site since the city's inception in the 1520s, though a series of pirate raids, earthquakes and dodgy architects put paid to at least three previous incarnations. The present cathedral, characterized by its two neoclassical towers, was completed in 1922; the remains of first colonial governor, Diego Velázquez, are still buried underneath.
The church was being comprehensively restored both inside and out at last visit in time for Santiago's quincentennial in 2015. Expect a thorough upgrade of the intricate ceiling frescoes, the hand-carved choir stalls and the altar that honors the venerated Virgen de la Caridad.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/eastern-cuba/santiago-de-cuba/sights/religious/catedral-de-nuestra-senora-de-la-asuncion#ixzz3x6ZEeXtN
Parque Cespedes ~ Santiago de Cuba
Monday, December 28, 2015
Santiago de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
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